Italian Kids Won’t Settle for Mediocre Pizza

It’s no surprise that Italian schoolchildren hold their pizza to a higher standard, but for a few schools in Milan, this has meant revamping their entire cafeteria menu.

After 220 kids, which represents around 30 percent of the student population at these locations, complained about the quality of their schools’ Thursday menu—which includes pizza—the catering company that provides food to their schools was instructed to overhaul the menus at three schools in the Milan school district. The kids lamented their pizza was cold, rubbery and undercooked, which would be disappointing to anyone but a travesty when you consider it’s Italy’s national food.

Their parents, who used this as an opportunity to fight for healthier menu options, including bland food like boiled chicken and rice, backed up their protesting kids.

“The aim was to send a strong message of protest to those managing the school dinners service and let them know some of their dishes are inedible,” Silvia Sardone, local councilor for the Forza Italia party, told La Repubblica.

Pizza is serious business in Italy, but these kids are superserious about standing up for their (culinary) rights!